Scottish Executive

Autism

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what research into the causes of autism it is currently undertaking.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive is not currently undertaking any research into the causes of autism.

  The Medical Research Council, which has a UK-wide remit, has committed £7.5 million to research into autism. The research findings, when available, will inform the policies and clinical practices of NHSScotland.

Communities Scotland

Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how Communities Scotland’s regional and area committees determine allocations and how much each local authority area has received from them in each year since 1999.

Ms Margaret Curran: I have asked Mr Bob Millar, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

  Communities Scotland’s programme allocations reflect ministerial priorities and link the national distribution of resources to area teams, based upon the measurement of social exclusion. The area programme allocation is then developed in close consultation with partners, reflecting a broad range of existing partnership arrangements and leading to locally devised programmes and decision making. Programmes are based upon local housing market and needs analysis to identify, consistent with our strategy, the demands, needs and opportunities for housing investment.

  Communities Scotland’s allocation by local authority area since 1999 is as follows:

  


Communities Scotland Expenditure 
  by Local Authority 
1999-2000 to 2001-02 (Capital 
  Programme only) 
  



Unitary Authority 
  

1999-2000
(£ million) 
  

2000-01
(£ million) 
  

2001-021
(£ million) 
  



Aberdeenshire 
  

4.7 
  

5.6 
  

6.1 
  



Angus 
  

3.6 
  

3.1 
  

2.8 
  



Argyll and Bute 
  

5.7 
  

4.5 
  

5.8 
  



City of Aberdeen 
  

5.8 
  

6.4 
  

5.1 
  



City of Dundee 
  

7.2 
  

8.1 
  

6.6 
  



City of Edinburgh 
  

18.2 
  

17.5 
  

13.1 
  



City of Glasgow 
  

61.0 
  

63.2 
  

63.7 
  



Clackmannanshire 
  

1.5 
  

0.9 
  

2.2 
  



Dumfries and Galloway 
  

3.0 
  

4.9 
  

4.1 
  



East Ayrshire 
  

0.9 
  

2.7 
  

1.7 
  



East Dunbartonshire 
  

1.8 
  

2.1 
  

0.5 
  



East Lothian 
  

1.6 
  

1.0 
  

0.7 
  



East Renfrewshire 
  

1.5 
  

3.2 
  

2.2 
  



Falkirk 
  

1.5 
  

2.0 
  

2.3 
  



Fife 
  

9.0 
  

8.5 
  

8.2 
  



Highland 
  

6.1 
  

7.2 
  

8.8 
  



Inverclyde 
  

6.7 
  

6.5 
  

6.1 
  



Midlothian 
  

0.5 
  

0.7 
  

0.8 
  



Moray 
  

1.3 
  

0.4 
  

1.1 
  



North Ayrshire 
  

3.2 
  

2.1 
  

3.2 
  



North Lanarkshire 
  

10.7 
  

12.6 
  

10.4 
  



Orkney 
  

1.3 
  

1.9 
  

1.8 
  



Perth and Kinross 
  

5.6 
  

5.4 
  

6.1 
  



Renfrewshire 
  

9.7 
  

9.5 
  

10.0 
  



Shetland 
  

0.6 
  

0.6 
  

0.9 
  



South Ayrshire 
  

3.6 
  

3.5 
  

3.6 
  



South Lanarkshire 
  

7.4 
  

6.5 
  

7.9 
  



Stirling 
  

3.0 
  

2.3 
  

4.0 
  



The Scottish Borders 
  

3.4 
  

3.2 
  

3.2 
  



West Dunbartonshire 
  

5.4 
  

6.8 
  

7.7 
  



Western Isles 
  

1.5 
  

0.6 
  

1.2 
  



West Lothian 
  

3.7 
  

3.6 
  

3.1 
  



  Notes:

  1. Original budget figure is used as 2001-02 accounts yet to be finalised - therefore these figures are subject to change.

Community Care

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to the Report on Care Home Costs for Older People in Scotland, whether it has made any financial provision for water charges in respect of older people in care homes.

Malcolm Chisholm: The National Review Group considered various ways of anticipating increases in care home costs. Rather than suggest any specific formula they concluded that an increase in real terms should be applied annually to take account of various pressures, including water rates. We will, in consultation with local authorities and the independent sector, determine the most appropriate means of uplifting care home fees shortly.

Domestic Abuse

Mr Keith Raffan (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what practical facilities it provides to organisations in the Mid Scotland and Fife parliamentary region which (a) support male victims of domestic abuse and (b) assist fathers experiencing problems with hostile ex-partners in gaining appropriate contact with their children, broken down by organisation and parliamentary constituency.

Ms Margaret Curran: The Scottish Executive does not directly support any organisations, which support male victims of domestic abuse. It does, however, provide core funding under section 10 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 to Family Mediation Scotland and 10 of its local services. NCH Family Mediation Fife, Family Mediation Central Scotland and Family Mediation Tayside, which operate, though not exclusively, within the Mid Scotland and Fife parliamentary region, receive over £178,000 between them. The aim of mediation is to enable divorced or separated parents to come to negotiated agreements about practical arrangements such as contact with children.

Education

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to phase in policies over the next six to eight years for French to be the only language taught in primary schools and S1 and S2 and for primary teacher trainees only to be taught the French language in colleges.

Nicol Stephen: No. Teacher education institutions must ensure that student primary teachers with the interest and aptitude are trained to teach modern languages in the primary school. The number and variety of languages offered is dependent on the resources available to the institution.

  All institutions provide French either as a core module of the course or as an elective. The Universities of Dundee and Aberdeen also provide German tuition. The University of Aberdeen hopes to offer Spanish this year as does the University of Glasgow, however the uptake of Spanish at Glasgow has been too low for it to be viable in recent years.

Education

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why the recent report by HM Inspectorate of Education, Standards and Quality in Scottish Pre-school Education 1997-2001 , only evaluated children's progress in development and learning in local authority and independent nurseries and not those in the private and voluntary sectors.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Douglas Osler, Chief Executive of HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE), to respond. His response is as follows:

  The inspection evidence to inform the report on Standards and Quality in Scottish Pre-school Education 1997-2001 was drawn from two different types of inspection. HMIE used all the performance indicators in their regular inspections of established nursery schools and classes. This included local authority nursery schools and classes and nursery classes attached to independent schools.

  Evidence about provision in the private and voluntary sectors was drawn from registration inspections. Registration inspections were designed to make an initial assessment of quality using a limited set of indicators, which did not include those on children’s progress in development and learning.

Environment

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the statement by the Minister for Finance and Public Services on 26 June 2002, on what environmental initiatives it will spend the extra £5 million and, in particular, what recycling initiatives will be included.

Allan Wilson: The £5 million for environment initiatives announced by my colleague Andy Kerr, on 26 June has to be seen in the wider context of the total end year flexibility allocation of £76 million for the Environment and Rural Development portfolio, which includes £30.2 million for environment programmes. Full details of how this funding will be allocated are provided in the answer given to question S1W-27441 today.

  Specifically on recycling, Andy Kerr also announced that an additional £95 million was being allocated to local authorities this year for supporting children and young people and improving the local environment. Although it will be for local authorities to propose exactly how this allocation is to be spent, the Executive has asked that they give consideration to certain issues, one of which is the provision of recycling banks. It is clear that providing easy access to facilities such as bottle and can banks or separate household collections of recyclable materials are the best ways to encourage more recycling of waste.

Environment

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to distribute the end year flexibility funding allocated to environment and rural development.

Allan Wilson: The end-year flexibility funding allocated to the environment and rural development portfolio totals some £76 million, including a planned carry forward of £21.3 million for the Fisheries Decommissioning Scheme. The additional funding will allow us to deliver a number of important policy outcomes, focused on improving environmental standards, reducing the impact of environmental issues on local communities, investing in the research base and working towards efficient and sustainable farming and fisheries.

Europe

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the ECOFIN Council on 12 July 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the informal ECOFIN meeting in Copenhagen on 7 and 8 September 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the ECOFIN Council on 8 October 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the EU Environment Council on 17 October 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the Justice and Home Affairs and Civil Protection Council on 14 and 15 October 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the EU Fisheries Council on 14 October 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the EU Transport and Telecommunications Council on 3 and 4 October 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the Informal Environment Council in Sonderborg on 19 to 21 July 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the EU Budget Council on 19 July 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the EU Agriculture Council on 15 and 16 July 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the EU General Affairs Council on 30 September and 1 October 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the EU Research Council on 30 September 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at (a) the EU Internal Market Council and (b) the EU Consumer Affairs and Tourism Council on 26 September 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the EU Agriculture Council meeting on 23 and 24 September 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the EU Informal Justice and Home Affairs Council in Copenhagen on 12 and 13 September 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the EU Informal Agriculture Council meeting in Nyborg from 8 to 10 September 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the EU General Affairs Council on 22 and 23 July 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial level and official level at the Informal Employment and Social Policy Council in Kolding on 12 and 13 July 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the EU Agriculture Council on 15 and 16 October 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the EU Internal Market, Consumer Affairs and Industry Council in Alborg on 18 and 19 October 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the EU General Affairs Council on 21 and 22 October 2002.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the European Council in Brussels on 24 and 25 October 2002.

Peter Peacock: The Seville European Council on 21 and 22 June 2002 agreed to reduce the number of Council formations from 16 to 9. The Danish Presidency has indicated it will apply these new Council formations with immediate effect, and is working on a wholesale revision of its presidency programme. This means that the dates and Council meetings referred to may no longer exist. Decisions on Scottish Executive attendance at Council meetings will be made when this situation becomes clearer and the agendas for the meetings are available.

Europe

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have at ministerial and official level at the ASEM Ministers of Finance meeting in Copenhagen on 5 and 6 July 2002.

Peter Peacock: The ASEM summit will deal with the European Union's relationship with Asia. Foreign Policy is a reserved matter and therefore there will be no Scottish Executive representation at this meeting.

Foster Care

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the proposed review of fostering will begin; who the members of the review group will be, and what the remit of the group will be.

Cathy Jamieson: Fostering will be considered as part of Phase II of the Adoption Policy Review. I am currently considering the precise remit of the review and the membership of the review group. I expect Phase II of the review to begin later this year and will announce the membership and remit before Phase II gets under way.

Health

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS patients in the West Lothian Healthcare NHS Trust area on the true waiting list for a hip replacement operation (a) waited more than the target 10 months and (b) were seen within that timescale since the target was set and how many patients are currently on the list.

Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested on performance against local waiting time targets is not collected since it is a matter for local NHS boards and Trusts. Information on performance against the national waiting time target is published quarterly and is available on the Scottish Health on the Web (SHOW) website at http://show.scot.nhs.uk/isd/acute_activity/index.htm.

Health

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the current financial deficit of the West Lothian Healthcare NHS Trust is.

Malcolm Chisholm: At the end of May, West Lothian Healthcare NHS Trust was forecasting a year-end overspend of £561,000. The trust is in on-going discussions with NHS Lothian about achieving financial breakeven.

Health

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any plans by West Lothian Healthcare NHS Trust to address the trusts’s financial deficit and whether it intends to assist the trust in addressing this deficit.

Malcolm Chisholm: West Lothian Healthcare NHS Trust is currently working to a financial recovery plan approved by the Trust Management Board in May 2002. The trust’s financial position remains in line with the recovery plan.

  The Scottish Executive Health Department has been assisting the trust in monitoring and reviewing the recovery plans.

Health

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what its definition is of delayed discharge, and whether this definition has changed in recent years and, if so, in what way.

Malcolm Chisholm: Individuals who have been assessed as being clinically ready for discharge from hospital but who thereafter experience a delay in moving into the next stage of their care are classified as "delayed discharges" from the moment their discharge is delayed. Information and Statistics Division of the NHS’s Common Services Agency has used this definition in its Patients Ready for Discharge census since the first quarterly census of September 2000. This census also collects information on those who have been delayed for longer than the accepted discharge planning period of six weeks.

Health

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to place a time limit on delayed discharge patients remaining in hospital which, if breached, would then result in responsibility for the patient solely resting with either the local authority, the NHS board or some other agency.

Mr Frank McAveety: We have no such plans. We are looking to local authority and NHS partnerships to make specific, targeted reductions in the number of long-term delays with the additional £20 million we have provided this year. Our emphasis is on joint responsibility and partnership working between local authorities and the NHS. Where it is clear that a local partnership is not working jointly to deliver on these and other targets, we will send a specialist Support Team into the area to resolve difficulties.

  Also as part of our Delayed Discharge Action Plan commitment, we have appointed a secondee team to develop joint discharge protocols for national application; these protocols will include a benchmarking component and set out minimum requirements for local authorities and the NHS to meet in the discharge process.

Health

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance on consultation and public involvement is currently available to NHS boards when considering changes in a board’s service provision and whether any changes to such guidance are planned.

Malcolm Chisholm: Patient Focus and Public Involvement, which was published in December of last year, set out a framework for changing the way in which the NHS interacts with the people it serves. It also contained a commitment to revise the current guidance on closure and change of use of health service premises and in May of this year draft interim guidance was issued widely to the NHS and other interested parties. Copies of the guidance are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 21063).

Health

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to tackle the level of alcohol-related emergency hospital admissions in Glasgow.

Malcolm Chisholm: Information on the number of emergency admissions to Glasgow acute hospitals with an alcohol-related diagnosis from 1997 to 2001 is given in the table. Local action to tackle alcohol problems is a matter for local agencies to address.

  Emergency admissions to acute hospitals in Glasgow from 1997 to 2001

  


Year 
  

Number 
  



1997-98 
  

7,766 
  



1998-99 
  

7,521 
  



1999-2000 
  

7,787 
  



2000-01 
  

7,748 
  



  Source: Scottish Morbidity Record, SMR01.

  Notes:

  Alcohol-related conditions are defined using the World Health Organisation's International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD10).

  The recording of alcohol problems may vary from hospital to hospital. Where an alcohol problems is suspected but unconfirmed it may not be recorded.

Health

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to recruit more speech therapists into the National Health Service.

Malcolm Chisholm: Action is being taken on a number of fronts:

  We recently announced that the Scottish Executive Health Department would fund additional student places in 2002-03 available to Allied Health Professions (AHPs) including speech and language therapists. This is in addition to the 30 additional student places being funded by SHEFC in 2002-03.

  We will be hosting a careers convention in the autumn to promote the AHPs and assist in recruitment and retention. This will be targeted at schoolchildren and those who might want to return to their profession.

  In addition a new Professional Officer for the AHPs will be appointed to take forward Building on Success - Future Directions for the Allied Health Professions, the first ever action plan for the Allied Health Professions in Scotland which sets out a programme of work to address recruitment and retention issues for this group.

  The Executive will also be issuing an action plan for workforce development which will set a critical path for creating a robust workforce development function which integrates workforce planning with service planning across all services in NHSScotland.

Health

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to implement the recommendations of the working party into immunology and allergy services in Scotland.

Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-26670 on 25 June 2002.

Housing

Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will give a decision on the independent tenanted market valuation submitted by Fife Council.

Ms Margaret Curran: Fife Council and the Executive are currently considering a number of issues with the independent valuer, relating to the initial valuation of the council's housing stock in Abbeyview, Lochgelly, Dysart, and Buckhaven and Methil. It is hoped that valuation might be finalised by end August.

Junior Doctors

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the current average hours worked by junior doctors in the West Lothian Healthcare NHS Trust area are and what support it intends to provide to reduce the number of hours worked by junior doctors in the area.

Malcolm Chisholm: Information is not held centrally on the average number of hours worked by junior doctors. However, data is available on whether junior doctors meet the limit of 56 hours of work a week, set down in the New Deal for junior doctors. The most recent monitoring data held for West Lothian Healthcare NHS Trust shows:

  Pre-Registration House Officers (PRHOs) were required to be compliant with the New Deal from August 2001.

  Senior House Officers (SHOs) and Specialist Registrars (SpRs) are not required to achieve compliance until August 2003.

  The New Deal Implementation Support Group, set up by ministers in 1999 to help trusts to achieve compliance, offers support to all trusts, including West Lothian Healthcare Trust, to help them overcome obstacles to full compliance by identifying and promoting best practice and assisting in work pattern redesign.

NHS Waiting Lists

Mr Tom McCabe (Hamilton South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to Audit Scotland's Review of the management of waiting lists in Scotland, whether it has any plans to issue guidelines to NHS boards to put an end to the practice of two waiting list systems and introduce unified waiting lists systems.

Malcolm Chisholm: We have accepted all of the recommendations in Audit Scotland’s report on its review of the management of NHS waiting lists in Scotland. My department is working with NHS Scotland and ISD Scotland to ensure that work on taking forward the recommendations is progressed rapidly.

  That includes a review by ISD of the rationale for deferred waiting lists, as specifically recommended by the Audit Scotland report.

NHS Waiting Lists

Mr Tom McCabe (Hamilton South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to Audit Scotland's Review of the management of waiting lists in Scotland, what steps it is taking to ensure clear levels of security access to waiting lists.

Malcolm Chisholm: We have accepted all of the recommendations in Audit Scotland’s report on its review of the management of NHS waiting lists in Scotland. My department is working with NHS Scotland and ISD Scotland to ensure that work on taking forward the recommendations is progressed rapidly.

NHS Waiting Lists

Mr Tom McCabe (Hamilton South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to Audit Scotland's Review of the management of waiting lists in Scotland, what steps it is taking to improve the provision of information to patients on waiting lists.

Malcolm Chisholm: We have accepted all the recommendations in Audit Scotland’s report on its review of the management of NHS waiting lists in Scotland. My department is working with NHSScotland and ISD Scotland to ensure that work on taking forward the recommendations is progressed rapidly.

  The National Waiting Times database currently being developed is to provide general practitioners, consultants, patients and the public with readily accessible, accurate and up-to-date information on hospital waiting times throughout Scotland.

Prison Service

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that all parliamentary questions on the Scottish prison Services Estates Review presently outstanding are answered before the end of the consultation period.

Mr Jim Wallace: Over 230 parliamentary questions about the Prison Estates Review were received in the period from 21 March 2002 to 24 May 2002. Every effort has been made to answer all these before the end of the consultation period but given the large number this could not be guaranteed. The normal protocols about answering parliamentary questions will apply.

Procurator Fiscal Service

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to increase funding for the procurator fiscal service to meet the demands being placed on the service.

Peter Peacock: I have made an additional £16.5 million available to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in 2002-03, to take forward their modernisation plans. As part of the current spending review, I will be setting budgets for 2003-04 to 2005-06. The results of the spending review will be announced in September.

Race Relations

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered the Race Equality Advisory Forum report, Making it Real: A Race Equality Strategy for Scotland , and, in particular, the section on ethnic origin classification and what action has been taken to ensure that the report’s recommendations are reflected in every area of its work.

Ms Margaret Curran: The Scottish Executive published Committing to Race Equality, a response from the Scottish Executive to the report from the Race Equality Advisory Forum (REAF) on 12 March this year.

  Chapter one, "Building a Solid Statistical Base" discusses the issues raised in REAF on ethnic classifications, and highlights the need for a partnership approach to taking this work forward. The chapter sets this work in the context of fulfilling two key objectives: first, the need for service users and others to be able to define their own ethnicity; and second, a meaningful and consistent approach for those who need to use the data.

  More generally, the REAF report will be used to help develop the Executive's Race Equality Scheme as required by the amended Race Relations Act

Young People

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to increase the resources available to local authorities to assist them in improving the current situation in which 39% of young people in care receive a planned throughcare programme and, of those who have left care, 40% have had a formal leaving care review, as highlighted in its Central Research Unit report, Scotland's Children: Children (Scotland) Act 1995 Research Findings No.3 - A Study of Throughcare and Aftercare Services in Scotland.

Cathy Jamieson: The Children’s Services Development Fund in 2000-01 and 2001-02 made up to £1 million available each year to local authorities to help develop throughcare and aftercare services. In addition, local authorities were invited to bid for money from the Changing Children’s Services Fund to help young people with the transition to independent living.

Youth Crime

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what policies it (a) has implemented and (b) is planning to implement in order to tackle youth crime.

Cathy Jamieson: In January of this year we launched Scotland’s Action Programme to reduce youth crime. This has already delivered multi-disciplinary youth justice teams in each area which have been supported by £25.5 million to identify offending young people in their areas and roll-out effective programmes to address their behaviour. On 27 June, we announced a 10-point action plan which sets out the Executive’s action to tackle the problem of persistent offending, enhancing community safety and improve the effectiveness of Scotland’s youth justice system.